


love will find a way

by liionne



Series: A thousand ways to meet [40]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/F, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 05:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2013546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liionne/pseuds/liionne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lea didn't really want to leave her there, especially not alone with the wolves that roamed in the forest at the end of the garden, but she thought this way was best. She was rummaging around in the linen cupboard for something warm when she heard a loud bang, and then another, and then another against the side of the house. She stood, listening for the noise again.</p><p>That was when she heard the ear-splitting howl of a wolf.</p><p> </p><p>  <b>Rule 63 re-writing of <i><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/993358">Where wolves fear to prey</a></i></b></p>
            </blockquote>





	love will find a way

**Author's Note:**

> Well I still have no idea what the McKirk Network is and whether this is exclusive to them but hot damn genderbending is my favourite thing at the moment, so when I saw this project on tumblr, I knew I had to have a piece. Whether this really fills the prompt or not I don't know, but I know that I love it.

It was the start of February when Lea found the kid on her back porch. She couldn't have been much older than ten years old, but she was out there, her bare back pressed against the side of the house. She was naked and shaking, and Lea immediately felt compelled to help. But she was only fifteen herself, and she wasn't sure what her parents would say about her bringing a small naked girl she'd found in the back garden in for a hot chocolate and some food, seeing as the girl in question was thin as a rake too.

And then she rolled his eyes at herself. Of course her parents wouldn't mind. If anything, they'd encourage her.

The girl's freaky blue eyes were wide as Lea took a step forward. She scooted back further on the porch, and Lea stopped, holding her hands up as if to admit defeat.

"It's alright," She said softly. "It's okay. I'm gonna go inside and get you a blanket, alright? I'm gonna go inside and get something to keep you warm. Okay." She stood, and crept back along the porch. "I'll be back real soon, kid." She said, as if it were soothing, but the kid still looked as scared as before.

Lea didn't really want to leave her there, especially not alone with the wolves that roamed in the forest at the end of the garden, but she thought this way was best. She was rummaging around in the linen cupboard for something warm when she heard a loud bang, and then another, and then another against the side of the house. She stood, listening for the noise again.

That was when she heard the ear-splitting howl of a wolf.

She raced downstairs, duvet in hand, out to the back porch, but the kid was gone.

And at the bottom of the garden, looking out at her, was a small-looking, thin-looking wolf with the whitest fur and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen on any animal.

She dropped the duvet, and although it made no sound to Lea's ears, the wolf flinched. Captivated by it, Lea went to take a step towards it.

And for a moment, the wolf raised a paw as if to come closer too.

But then a howling erupted from the woods behind her, and the wolf turned and ran off into the forest.

 

 

~*~

It was mid February the next year when Lea saw the wolf again. Its fur was matted, and it looked even skinnier than before. Lea was no veterinarian, quite the opposite in fact, but she knew that that wasn't good.

So she pointed a finger at it, and held it up as if to grab its attention.

"Stay there." She told it sternly.

The wolf cocked its head, but made no move to leave, or to come closer, which was just how Lea liked it.

She ducked into the house and took the steak that her mom had been defrosting from the fridge, and carried it outside. She gripped it lightly, not wanting to put the wolf off it with her scent.

When she brought it out, the wolf took a step a forward. And then, as if realising what it had done, it stopped.

"It's alright." Lea told it softly. "Here."

She threw the steak at it, and it landed on the ground with a heavy sounding thud. The wolf regarded it, and then she pounced on it.

Lea watched, and gave a low chuckle as it flicked it about, seemingly playing with it. The wolf looked up at the noise, and stopped.

That was when Lea retreated, returning to the house with a smile.

 

 

~*~

Lea saw her wolf every winter after that, and she was sort of fascinated by her.

She would creep up closer and closer each year, and each year Lea would feed her. She'd always replace the food she took, and so her parents never found out. Sometimes she'd come in January, sometimes in December - she even showed up on Christmas Day once. She was Lea's winter wolf - she'd come home from med school for a couple of months each winter, and her wolf would be there waiting for her.

It was when Lea was 20 years old that she got really brave.

She was about to throw a pork chop out to her wolf when she stopped, and she swore that the wolf had frowned. She took a step forward, pork chop in hand. The wolf retreated just a little. Lea took another step forward, and the wolf stepped backwards. Lea made it halfway across the garden before the wolf's back met the treeline. So there she stopped, and she crouched down on one knee, the January snow making her jeans wet.

She held out the pork chop for the wolf, holding it at arms length. Her wolf certainly wasn't as skinny as it was before, as it had been the first time round, and Lea thought that this was more habit than necessity for the both of them. Or, maybe it was just a necessity for Lea rather than the wolf.

Slowly, the wolf stepped forward. It moved at a glacial pace, sniffing every so often as it approached. Lea smiled reassuringly at it, because she was sure there was something about this animal that meant she understood.

When the wolf's snout met the chop, Lea pulled her hand in towards her body slowly.

At that, the wolf sat down, and once again Lea was sure it was frowning.

"Alright, alright." Lea conceded, holding the chop back out to it.

The wolf snatched it happily, and flicked it around a little while. It was when it had took a bite that Lea reached her hand out to bury her fingers in its scruff. The fur was warm and soft and thick, and Lea raised both hands to run her fingers through it.

When she looked down, the wolf was looking right back up at her.

Lea slowly withdrew her fingers from it's scruff, and the wolf gave something of a low whine.

"Enjoy your dinner." Lea told it, before returning to the house.

 

 

~*~

"No, Christine, it's totally over. The divorce went through today- What d'you mean it's better this way? She was my wife."

Lea held the phone to her ear as she studied the book in her hand. She was stood directly under a fan, and the cool air on her neck was a lot nicer than the stuffy Georgian heat inside that room.

She picked the book she wanted, a cookery book because she didn't have Jocelyn hogging the kitchen now, and headed to the counter. She was only half listening to Christine as she handed it to the cashier.

"Look, Chris, I've gotta go. Yeah. Yeah- bye." And then she hung up, and grumbled under her breath about pushy women as she looked up to meet the gaze of the cashier.

Her eyes were the bluest blue Lea had ever seen. Well, that she'd ever seen on a human.

Lea was captivated.

"That'll be six dollars." She said. Lea blinked.

"Have I met you before?" She asked.

The cashier paused, and stared at her for a moment. She wore the same wide-eyed look Lea was sure she was showcasing at that moment. "No." She said eventually, but her eyes were saying differently.

Lea decided not to argue, and handed over a ten dollar bill.

"There you go." The cashier - her name-tag called her Jane - said, as she handed over Lea's change.

"Thanks." Lea murmured.

She left with a weird feeling of foreboding.

 

 

~*~

It was winter of the same year when Lea heard the gunshot. She was aware that they were culling the wolves, and she wasn't very damn happy about it, but she hadn't actually heard any gunshots yet.

She looked out of her bedroom window, and saw blood trailing through the snow.

"Shit." Lea muttered.

There was only one wolf that would drag itself to her back porch.

She'd never ran faster in her whole thirty years of living.

She skittered onto the back porch, expecting to see her wolf lying there, white fur stained blood red. But what she saw made her eyes widen.

She was pretty sure it was the same woman that she'd bought the book from, that cookery book that she had never actually opened. It had been months since she'd seen her, but she couldn't forget her, couldn't get those wide blue eyes out of her head.

But when Lea looked at her again, all she could see was that girl, that girl fifteen years ago that had wound up naked and afraid on her porch, and had disappeared without a trace. Only now the girl was fifteen years older, still naked but now tanned and toned, with fingers pressed to a hole in her abdomen as it poured blood.

"Let's get you inside." Lea said, hooking an arm around her bare shoulders as she lifted her up.

The woman did nothing but huff.

"What's your name, kid?" Lea asked, as she hauled her inside.

"Jane." She coughed, and now Lea had no doubt that this was her; the woman from the bookshop. That voice had been echoing around her head for weeks. "Jane Kirk. And you're Lea."

Lea raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that?"

"I think we both know." Jane gave her a weary yet pointed look as Lea settled her in her bed.

And with that, all of Lea's suspicions were confirmed. And actually, she wasn't having trouble dealing with it. Rather, she had went into doctor mode, and she instructed Jane to stay still whilst she grabbed the med kit she kept in her bathroom.

When she came back, Jane hadn't moved, but she looked shifty, as if she wasn't quite comfortable.

"Who did this to you?" Lea asked, as she injected Jane with a local anesthetic that she may or may not have stolen from the local hospital she worked at.

Jane shrugged, and winced. "Hunters. They're shooting anything that moves, I doubt I was the only casualty."

Lea's eyed widened. "There's more of you?"

Jane looked at her as if it was obvious. "Of course. We're a pack."

"Woah." Lea murmured.

Lea set about pulling out the bullet and stitching up the wound, and she furrowed her brow as she did so. Jane's skin healed quickly - she had to keep reopening the wound to drag the bullet out, and then even her stitches weren't really necessary. The cut faded, getting smaller and smaller, until it disappeared entirely, leaving nothing but a small white mark on the toned skin of her abdomen.

Lea packed away the things from her med kit, and stood.

Jane grabbed a gentle, yet oddly firm, hold of her hand. "Please don't leave me."

Lea looked at her for a long time, and then she shook her head. "I won't. I'll be right back."

She took a few seconds to place the med kit back under the sink, and then she returned to the bedroom to find Jane still waiting for her.

"You should get some rest." Lea said. "Doctor's orders."

Jane thought about it, and then said, "Only if you lie with me, Bones."

"Bones?" Lea asked.

"Sawbones. Like a doctor." Jane explained.

Lea nodded as she kicked her shoes off and clambered into bed. It was cold out, and she was pretty sure that Jane's body temperature was above average, so she'd make a good heater. And anyway, she'd requested that she slept next to her, so Lea planned to.

Lea tried to keep her hands to herself, to not touch Jane any more than was necessary. She closed her eyes when she noticed that Jane had too, and evened out her breathing as if she was asleep. How she could sleep when Jane, her wolf, was right there, she wasn't sure. Lea could feel the heat from her body, could smell her woodsy, earthy scent. Everything was Jane, right there, wanting her. Lea couldn't have have slept if she'd tried; Jane had a habit of disappearing, and Lea wasn't going to miss this for the whole damn world.

It was only after a minute of faking sleep that she felt Jane's breath on her face, warm and oddly sweet smelling. "Thank you, Bones." She murmured. "For everything."

It was a nice gesture, but it sounded far too much like a goodbye.

 

 

~*~

When Lea woke up in the morning, Jane was still in her bed. In actual fact, Jane was curled up in her arms, and shivering for dear life.

"Jane?" She asked sleepily. "You alright?"

"Turn the thermostat up." Jane said, a soft command. "Bones, turn it up."

There was an urgency to her voice that Lea could register but couldn't understand. She moved quickly, and turned the temperature right up to sub-tropical. She then returned to the bed, and Jane wriggled her way into her arms once again, pressing cold fingers to her warm chest as the temperature slowly rose. When it eventually reached the desired temperature, and Jane stopped shaking, Lea dared to look down at her.

"What the hell was that about?" She asked.

Jane swallowed, and tilted her head back to look up at her. Those big blue eyes trained on Lea's face, and then it was her turn to shiver.

"The cold." She answered. "The cold turns me back."

"What, so this isn't like a full moon type thing?" Lea asked.

Jane chuckled, but it didn't sound genuine. "I wish. When the temperature drops below forty-one degrees we shift. Stay that way till it gets back to forty-one. The younger ones always change sooner; they're more sensitive to it. That's why you found me in February. Normally we don't change back till March-"

"You remember that?" Lea asked.

Jane blinked. "You don't forget that kind of thing, Bones. And anyway, that was the first time I met you."

"You disappeared." Lea noted, and the pain of it returned for just a second.

Jane paused, and then buried her face into Lea's chest; Lea was overheating already, but she didn't say anything. "I didn't have a choice. I changed back."

"I know." Lea murmured. "Just don't do it again."

Experimentally, she placed her lips to Jane's forehead. But just as she did so, Jane tilted her head back, catching her in a kiss so deep and so passionate that Lea wondered what on Earth she'd seen in her ex-wife. She'd never had this before, not with her. Jane shifted them both so that they were face to face, so that the angle was easier on both of them, and when she pulled away she looked at Lea almost sheepishly.

"Sorry." She murmured.

Lea shook her head. "Don't be."

"Not too soon?" Jane asked, leaning her forehead against Lea's.

"Jane, I've known you for fifteen years." Lea said, the hint of a smile on her lips. "I think it's about time."

 

 

~*~

Jane stayed the night. And the next night, and the night after that.

"I watch you all the time, y'know." She said one night as they curled up together. "I stand right at the treeline, and watch you all the time. Whenever I can get away. Which is a lot, actually."

"Why don't you come closer?" Lea asked, trailing her fingers along Jane's side.

Jane sighed softly. "When I change, I'm not just a human trapped in a wolf's body. Well I am, but... I lose something. We all losing something. We have a wolf's mentality. We're not people in there, Bones, we're actual wolves."

She paused, and Lea didn't like the silence that fell between them.

"Wild wolves don't let people run their fingers through their fur, Jane."

It was a reference to the first and only time Lea had been allowed to touch Jane as a wolf, and Jane understood immediately.

"No. No, you're right. Pike did always say I was the most human of 'em all." She murmured.

"The most human wolf I know." Lea agreed, pressing a kiss to Jane's skin.

Jane shivered, and Lea wasn't sure why.

 

 

~*~

Lea was no longer tied to Jocelyn and her Big Family Christmas, so instead she stayed in, and let Jane cook the dinner.

The radio played nothing but Christmas tunes, and Jane swayed her hips to the music as she cooked. Lea was never a very good chef, unless it was pancakes you wanted, and Jane said she hadn't cooked a proper Christmas dinner since she was sixteen years old.

"Tell me the story." Lea said, as she sat at the kitchen table.

"I'll tell you if you help." Jane countered, and Lea nodded, moving over to the opposite side of the counter to Jane and beginning to chop up the vegetables.

"Alright, so normally we're all wolves for Christmas, so dinner doesn't matter very much." Jane explained, as The Pogues played in the background. "But there was one year where Pike went out in September and bought everything we'd need, and kept the thermostat running at like 90 degrees from the start of October, and we all had a big Christmas dinner together. But seeing as no one else could cook, I had to do it."

"Where did you learn to cook?" Lea asked, supplying Jane with questions to keep her talking, because Lea loved the sound of her voice.

Jane shrugged. "I used to fend for myself a lot when I was little."

"Oh." Lea murmured. "So how did it go?"

"Chekov shifted halfway through. He was talking about Christmas in Russia, and he let his food go cold. The sudden change in temperature made him shift. He was pretty new at the time, it was only his second winter with us. He was still pretty sensitive." Jane stared solemnly at the tiny turkey she was stuffing, and Lea felt bad for bringing it up.

"Damn." She muttered. She turned back to the vegetables when she heard the soft sound of a tea-towel hitting the bench. Jane had wiped her hands, and Lea watched her as she approached. She turned so that she was stood with her back to the edge of the counter, and Jane moved to stand in front of her, aligning them at the hips and the knees as she took hold of Lea's hands.

"Let's dance." She grinned, and Lea noted that the song on the radio had changed to what she believed to be Tom Jones.

Jane was evidently as good a dancer as she was a chef, but the real surprise lay in Lea's skills. She whirled Jane around the room, hips swaying and hands in all the right places as some welsh girl warbled through the radio. They were both grinning when the song ended, with Lea pinning Jane to the counter. Jane raised her eyebrows at her. "Where did you learn to dance?"

"Had lessons for the wedding." Lea shrugged, pressing a gentle kiss to Jane's lips to capture the soft "oh" that fell from them.

Dinner was hardly a quiet affair; Jane may have known everything about Lea , but Lea certainly didn't know everything about Jane.

They left the dishes until the next day, because Christmas Day was not a day for washing dishes, and when Lea curled up with Jane on the sofa, her head resting on Jane's chest, she thought that this might just be the happiest Christmas she'd ever had.

 

 

~*~

January rolled in, and caused the temperature to drop by two degrees. Lea prepared for this by turning the thermostat up from sub-tropical to Arabian desert.

"Just turn it up as you need, Jane." She said, as she stocked the real-fire fire place in the living room with wood. It was her plan to have the thermostat on and at least one more heater in each room; Jane had told her that January was the coldest month, and she wasn't taking any chances.

"I've never had the whole of the winter before." Jane mused from the window. There was snow lying on the ground, and Lea couldn't help thinking about how the pure white of it so perfectly matched Jane's fur in wolf-form.

"Will you just get away from the window before I have a damn heart attack?" Lea frowned, as she lit the fire.

Jane huffed a little, and attempted to pull the scarf from around her neck as she walked over to Lea's side.

"You're being overcautious." She said, as Lea batted away her hands and tightened the scarf.

"No such thing as overcautious, Jane." She returned, taking Jane's toasty warm hands in her own.

"I'll still be here, Bones." Jane assured her, and Lea shook her head.

"You don't get it." She said, and she decided to settle them both by the fire because explaining this might take a while. "You might always be there, Jane, but that's only good for you. Before, seeing you every so often was enough, but now? Losing you again might just kill me, damn it."

"But Bones-" Jane began, but Lea wasn't finished.

"You might stand at that treeline and watch me all the time Jane, but I can't see you there. And even if I can see you there, you never come close. You said it yourself - you lose something when you change. Having you here, in my arms, is not the same as having you stood at the end of my damn garden looking like a shag-pile carpet." Lea paused for breath, and she shook her head. "I've lost everything I've ever loved, Jane. My wife, my sister, my dad-" She closed her eyes, because looking at Jane was making her head hurt. "I'm not going to lose you too."

Lea kept her eyes shut, and only opened them when she felt Jane press a gentle kiss to her forehead. "You'll never lose me, Bones. Never ever."

 

 

~*~

They curled up in the living room that night, because that fire was way too romantic for either of them to resist.

And anyway, first-time sex on the couch was a lot better than first-time sex in the bed.

Lea didn't even think about the mess they'd made on the leather couch as Jane shifted them both so that they lay chest-to-chest, still panting and sweaty.

"See, there's another reason why I can't lose you." Lea panted, as she pressed her head into the crook of Jane's neck to shower her in soft kisses.

Jane chuckled. "This is definitely worth staying human for. _You_ are definitely worth staying human for."

"Promise me you'll stay." Lea whispered.

Jane nodded. "I promise.

 

 

~*~

Lea woke up in the morning to Jane shivering.

"Bones, the heating has gone off. Bones. Bones- Lea for the love of _God_."

Lea woke up with a start, as Jane shoved her away from her.

"It's too late," She kept muttering. "It's too late. It's too late."

"It's not, Jane, I can-" Lea was about to leave, to go and raid the linen cupboard when Jane gave an agonized wail.

"I love you. Lea Hannah McCoy, I love you." She panted.

The sound of tearing skin and creaking bones filled the room, and Lea winced.

"Don't go, Jane, don't-"

Another agonized wail.

Lea only had time to whisper "I love you too" before Jane changed completely.

The white wolf regarded her with those funny blue eyes, and Lea tried her very best not to cry. She went through to the kitchen, and opened the back door to the garden. As if she knew the way - which she did, really - the wolf trotted out without a second thought.

Lea watched it until its tail had disappeared into the forest, and then she watched for a long time after.

 

 

~*~

Lea watched for it all the time. The wolf at the end of the garden. Jane had said she was always there, but Lea couldn't see her. Maybe Jane had been lying. Maybe she was just stealthy. To be honest, Lea wasn't entirely sure.

When she did see her, Lea tried to tempt her forward. But Jane never came close. It was as if they'd traveled all the way back to square one; Jane never ventured past the edge of the garden.

Lea watched from the window every night, and every night her heart hurt.

 

 

~*~

February saw the thawing of the snow, but the temperature still didn't get above ten degrees. Lea cursed the damn ground she walked on every night, but every night nothing happened.

The wolf still stood there, regarding her.

Lea hated the fact that she was so close, and yet so damn far away.

She couldn't wait for winter to be over.

 

 

~*~

The weatherman predicted that March would be a cold one this year, and Lea wanted to punch something. Or someone. Maybe herself.

She was totally alone in that big empty house, save for the time she spent at the hospital, and the odd time Christine would come to see her with a pan of soup.

Lea couldn't tell her why she was so depressed - "my short-term but kinda long-term girlfriend shifted back into her wolf form and even though she's probably at the end of the garden right now I can't go near her in case her primal instinct takes over and she bites my hand off" wasn't a believable excuse.

So she waited out the winter on her own, with a bottle of bourbon in hand.

 

 

~*~

March was turning into April when she heard it.

A quiet rapping at the door to the back porch.

Lea approached it slowly, carefully, her eyes narrowed. It was a suspicious sound, whatever it was. She didn't like it too much.

Lea had stopped checking the temperature each day some time in the middle of March. She opened the back door slowly, wary hazel eyes looking out onto the horizon.

"Look down you suspicious bastard."

Lea did as instructed, and dropped to her knees almost immediately.

"You god damn fool-brained corn fed son of a bitch, I ought to leave you out there to god damn freeze, you ass-"

Jane crashed their lips together, allowing Lea to pull her inside into the warm of the house. It wasn't the best hello, but it felt right.

"You promised me." Lea muttered as they pulled away. "You promised me-"

"I know." Jane murmured. "I know, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Jane peppered the bare skin of Lea's neck and face with kisses, showering her in them by way of apology.

Lea just shook her head. "I'll forgive you." She said. "If you promise me not to do it again."

They sat face to face, nose to nose, in fact, the tips just barely touching. Roaming hands stilled, and they looked at each other for a very long time, just taking in the presence of each other.

Jane pressed a slow, deep kiss to Lea's lips, leaning their foreheads together as she pulled away. "I promise."


End file.
